When do you shop?

[August77]

I was just wondering, for those of you that don't make your own gear, when you prefer to shop or visit the sutlers at an event. Your input is greatly appreciated!!!

- Friday night, before things get started
- Sunday, when everything is done
- During downtime throughout the weekend
- I don't visit sutlers, it ruins my "moment"
- I buy online/mail order before an event
- I generally have everything I need

I'm sure there are a million other variables that could be added here, but I wanted to keep it simple for now.

[lukegilly13]

I browse casually during down time thoughout the event. My reasoning behind that is this: I generally do not go to an event in NEED of something. Sometimes there is a WANT....and I may be thinking about a particular item and look to see if they have one I can analyse, expecially with a large/major item like jackets, coats, overcoats, etc. Also, I find that this is a great time to discover small detail pieces (such as pipes, tin containers, period bottles, pocket knives, gun cleaning equipment, etc) that you hadn't thought about before but makes your kit much better/practical.

[LibertyHallVols]

I hate to shop "for the event" while I'm "at the event", so I work hard to be sure I have what I need before I step on-site. That's just too much stress, which is why I do most of my buying on-line/phone/mail. But, when I "shop at an event" its usually for something I need for a later event, or for that "thing I never new I needed".

HOWEVER, anytime I attend an event that will have quality vendors, I'm always sure to do some shopping to see what's out there, with future events in-mind. Events like "High Tide", where you have a selection of the best vendors available, are rare for me. These give you the chance to see and touch an item and try it on for fit, before making a purchase. So, I like to be prepared when the opportunity presents itself.

[Dan Wambaugh]

Bill,

Great poll, and I'll be interested to see the answers as well. From my experience unless the event has been very immersion oriented and the participants have been kept away from the vendors all weekend, Sunday after noon is a bust...they might as well let vendors leave then. On the other hand I heard stories from Summer of '62 where one vendor stayed behind to be set up Sunday and he cleared 80% of his sales after the event had technically ended.

If it is going to be an immersion event or at the very least they're going to keep the participants away for the bulk of the weekend it pays to have your stuff out and ready to go by 7:00 AM Friday at the LATEST. The first big event Brian and I set up at we couldn't get our things out of the containers fast enough and people were grabbing up items hand over fist...we sold out of civilian shirts before noon!

The bottom line is that it is well worth a half hour of a vendor's time before the event to familiarize themselves with what exactly the plan for the participants will be over the course of the weekend. If it's an immersion event, you'll likely only be set up for at most 12 hours on Friday and then heading home. If it's a "carpe-eventum" you can expect some good sales Friday with the campaigners then marching off, and the rest of the weekend you'll have to deal with the slack-jawed stares and the "why does this cost so much" questions.

Sutlering is like a military operation. You have to recon, formulate a plan of attack, then assault relentlessly as long as you can, and of course know when to pull out!

Just a few musings for a Friday morning. :)


Best,

Dan

[Mcouioui]

I voted for "During downtime throughout the weekend" even if in fact, I buy all the time, especially at the moment with the favorable change € vs $ :) :) :)

[Justin Morris]

Regretfully, the last event that I attended that had some of our good quality vendors set up was Corinth several years ago. Most events I've attended since coming over to the Campaigner side of the hobby has not had authentic vendors there. I would personally love to make a few events where some of our fine vendors are, to get to meet them and also to browse their wares and make some purchases of those things you just want to hold in your hand and examine before you buy. I do all of my shopping online at this current time.

Justin

[bhutton]

At most events, particularly maimstream, most of the Sutlers do not have anything of interest to me , but I browse once at downtime and occassionally find a small item , tin wear etc that I otherwise would not have come across. Also you get to see some of the mail order product of these vendors

[Johnny Lloyd]

All-

I voted for "mail-order before event only". I like discussing my buy via e-mail/phone with the vendor that will make the item on a personal level to ensure what I get will be what I want.

If I go to a mainstream event (rarely anymore) then I try to stay away from muleskinner row to preserve as much of the moment as possible, which is difficult to do at these kinds of events. Besides, if I need something, I know what I want and from whom to get it now.

My recent exception to the above rule-of-thumb was when I attended "At High Tide" and I did go to sutler row there, mostly because I actually wanted to meet some of the vendors myself: Nick Duvall, Brother John Crabb, and the "New-Jersey-Sutler-that-shall-remain-nameless-on-this-website-forevermore".

Also, there were so many quality items I wanted to see myself since the rare opportunity presented itself to look at the items I have seen so much online.

Cheers- Johnny Lloyd

[Prodical Reb]

I picked when ever I have down time through out the weekend. Some events I've been to like Summer of '62 the only chance you had to visit the vendors was at check in or after the event was over. Through out the weekend there wasn't an oppurtunity to visit.

I hate to go after the event is over as most of the vendors, like the participants, have a long ways to drive and need to pack things up and move out with a quickness so as not to be on the road all night.

I'll will also shop via online or email or a phone call. Some vendors don't go to events in your locale, so you can only shop with them via email or online. An example is I live in VA and Don Smith of Trans Mississippi Depot is in AZ. I would never get to shop with him at an event. Currently Richmond Depot isn't going to any events so shopping with them is only by appointment, online, phone or email. So visiting them at an event is impossible also.

The event is a good time to find little haversack stuffers like mirrors, match boxes, hygeine, examine a particular vendors level quality. Also it is good just to be able to put a face with the voice over a phone or at the other end of the keyboard. I like to be able to talk to a person face to face and still look them in the eye and shake hands afterwards.

Visiting a sutler could be an "in the moment" experience if he were more like sutlers of the period and had period items/foodstuffs; by this I mean cakes, pies, candy, oysters, dried meats, potted meats, dissicated veggies, stationary, mittens, scarves, newspapers, little brass stencils with name, etc. Things the Army didn't provide but the soldiers wanted or needed and paid for. Maybe raiding a particularly crooked sutler would be part of the scenario.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Visiting a sutler could be an "in the moment" experience if he were more like sutlers of the period and had period items/foodstuffs; by this I mean cakes, pies, candy, oysters, dried meats, potted meats, dissicated veggies, stationary, mittens, scarves, newspapers, little brass stencils with name, etc. Things the Army didn't provide but the soldiers wanted or needed and paid for. Maybe raiding a particularly crooked sutler would be part of the scenario...

Good reminder... if the sutlers at mainstream/public-invited events were period-correct ones, then it might add to the experience a little more. I wished more would be.

Have ya'll encountered this scenario: You go to mainstream event and see Sutler X has a great new item you think is dead-on accurate for an original pattern. You buy it, get it home and finally see pics of the original item against the one you bought and the item you bought looks like junk in comparison.

That's why I like mail-order better from a trusted source- unless I have my copy of Echoes of Glory or an original of the item in my hands at the time I buy the repro, then I get a bit timid to waste good money on junk sometimes.

-Johnny Lloyd

PS- Now... if we could've only had Mr. Erasmus Hopkins come back from Washington City at W'64 this past February.:p

[Andrew Kasmar]

Hi,

I would have to say that I buy most of my stuff online before the event. Although I go look at the sutlers at events, I do not usually buy anything. When I was at 145th Gettysburg event, last month, there were only 2 sutlers worth going into. So, I walked around alot, but only shopped at Dirty Billy and bought a hat(the one in my picture) and Ben Tart.

[jschw90]

I'm with the crowd that use the internet before hand. But if I do look at sutlers during an event it is the first night there.

[RN_PAC]

I'm (un?)fortunate enough to live very close to Gettysburg, so hitting S&S, Needle & Thread, Corner Clothier, Dirty Billy, Sprios Marinos, Daley's, &cet is, in the words of Darth Vader, "all too easy" :cool:

(and FHW is right down the road!)

[Fenianboy]

Every chance I get!?!

[RudyN]

I normally order online before the event. However, if there is something I really want and the Sutler has it I will buy it there.

[Garrett Silliman]

Generally online, but if I buy at an event it will be on Friday night/afternoon before going "live".

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

I tough one to answer...
But, considering the choices, "on line" or "through the mail."

That being because modern sutlers are not part of the event, or... the sutlers I would buy from NUG are not at events that have modern sutlers as part of the event (exceptions noted).
Meaning, the History-Heavy events may not afford one the opportunity, and the History-Light events NUG do not have the sutlers or makers I buy from.

Soooo. I buy "before."

And, I am growing curmudgeony buying uniform items on line or through the mails due to sizing problems. With a 42 1/2 inch chest, I can wear a
"Size 42" from some vendors or makers but not others and have to go to a "Size 44" while some "Size 44" are closer to Size 46 on me. Same with "Size 34" or "Size 36" trousers.
Knowing different makers' sizing and sizes makes that easier until new makers' systems are learned.
And, by buying say from S & S "off the rack," one can "try garments on." This eliminates problems, particular on-line sales where a lad lists a "Size 44" jacket that arrives as a "Size 38" (lost $18 on mail and PayPal fees returning it the last time that happened).

On the other hand, things get complicated by the "impression du jour" for particular units being portrayed for particular events where things may need to all be purchased in advance of an event as the liklihood of even the best or highest quality makers or vendors may not have those items in stock.
And... then there is always the "Hey, look! I can use THAT!!" purchase of the immediate need or Impulse Buy when the quality wares are available and access is not prohibited by the impression, scenario, or event... ;) :)

Others' mileage will vary...

Curt
Six of one, and half dozen of the other Mess

[Ryan Halsey]

I go during down time at the event. I also order online. It really depends on whether I need something.

[Parault]

I try to purchase the items needed, before an event, online. I go to the sutlers once, and maybe twice on a good day. I can walk in and walk out without buying anything. I look close at items at the sutlers then go " I really don't need that."

[VIrginia Mescher]

Speaking as a vendor (Ragged Soldier Sutlery), I advise people to make their purchases as soon as they can. Because the vagaries of the market seem never to be the same -- some items move that have been slow for a year while other best-sellers don't sell -- I try to bring adequate inventory but my estimates are sometimes off. Or, even worse, the supplier has stopped carrying that item or the manufacturer is no longer making it so what I have on hand at the beginning of the event is all I can get. At the mainstream Gettysburg, even though I had stocked up, some people came back to the booth Sunday afternoon and I had sold out of quite a few items.

Concerning those folks that don't consider a trip through the vendor area worthwhile, I would invite them to visit my tent when I do an event. We have documented what we carry and have a binder with documentation for almost every reproduction item we sell and are getting our documentation added to our website. And although we are best known for toys and children's games, we do carry items for adults, e.g., parlor games and numerous books, both reproduction and modern, as well as items particularly suited for soldiers, e.g., dice, dominoes, and adamantine/stearin candles.

Further, the soldiers and adult civilians should have some knowledge of items available to children of the time period. Susan Hughes, the former editor of Citizen's Companion summed it up when she made a comment about soldiers' general knowledge of the time period. It went something along the lines of the soldiers should remember that the generals didn't cleave the ground with their collective swords and the soldiers sprang out fully accoutered without any knowledge of the 1860's world. While she was referring to soldiers having a general knowledge of civilian subjects, the same message holds for all reenacting adults' -- both soldier and civilian -- knowledge about toys, children's games, adult entertainments, and such topics as etiquette and hand writing. All civil war reenactors could learn a lot about the period mindset and society's values as well as some of what their own education would have addressed by reading period textbooks that we carry.

If you want the mainstream vendors to do a better job with their merchandise, ask them for their documentation on their merchandise. I've seen a lot of items at vendors that wouldn't stand up to even casual scrutiny, e.g., cold handle frying pans which we have never been able to document to the civil war period. If they have documentation, you can also reward them by patronizing their establishments.

Sorry if I got up on a soapbox a bit and strayed from the starting topic but we try to be historians who happen to sell things we have researched rather than some of the mainstream vendors and gift shops at historic sites who seem to be entrepreneurs who sell what they think the public will buy.

Michael Mescher

[Andrew Kasmar]

Hi,

I wish I had known that your sutler was at Gettysburg, I would have loved to gone through it.

Andrew Kasmar

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

Sutlery...
;) :)

Curt

[Lrvecchi]

If I know I need something I try and buy it before hand online. If I know ahead of time that the sutler will be at the event I will wait to purchase the item at the event to avoid shipping fees. However, I do browse during down time, but not really purchase anything.

[sepoy1857]

Usually during downtime when nothing else is going on or if I need something in particular.

[SouthernRifle]

I visit sutler row during down time at events. Whether I shop or not, depends on my need at that exact moment. If I see something I like, I'll take note of it and try to research it when I get home and buy it at the next event. If I need something bad enough, I'll make a trip out to Gettysburg to pick it up. I'm finished with buying online (even non-reenacting purchases) as I have been burned twice by sutlers:mad: